Roasting coffee locally is as local as coffee gets in Canada

From tree to cup—that is the mantra of Tricia Richens, the proprietor of Green River Coffee—a new company that supports small organic coffee farmers and is determined to leave behind the smallest environmental footprint possible.

And her chant, from tree to cup, comes wrapped up in a tune that promises freshly roasted, organic, fair trade coffee “that will change your world.”

For Ms. Richens, her awareness of a “fair ity to maintain their land’s biodiversity. “I just think about the work the small farmers are doing to produce this coffee. One coffee tree produces approximately one pound of coffee in one season and they are all hand picked cherries. It is a phenomenal amount of work and just like any other farmer, they need to be supported in that work and paid a fair wage for the work that they do.” The freshness of the product and the envi trade” environment was heightened while delivering poverty-specific programs and assignments dealing with social justice issues in a former career.

Today, she has taken those life lessons and applied them to a new business venture that not only involves a “green” philosophy as well. Prior to custom roasting the virgin coffee beans on her premises in Keswick, Ms. Richens sources them from small, organic farmers in Costa Rica and Columbia where she is confident she is purchasing the highest quality bean available. She has been to a coffee farm in Costa Rica and respects the mind set behind supporting smaller farms and traditional growing methods. “Green River Coffee offers the community an alternative to the poverty and environmental harm attributed to mass produced coffee,” she says, adding that farmers, their families and their countries deserve the right to a sustainable lifestyle and the abilronment are two other features she embraces and promotes as part of her business philosophy. As soon as she has finished roasting the coffee, it is packaged in either a reusable mason jar or in a compostable corn-based sack. The coffee is then sold at the two farmers’ market locations in Keswick and Queensville.

“By roasting the coffee locally, I am cutting out some of the emissions and the middle man,” Ms. Richens said. “Ideally what I hope people will do is get into the habit of emailing me the day before or the week before the market, and I can roast it the day before and then they are always getting the ultimate freshly roasted coffee.”

She likens the search for a good cup of coffee to that of the wine tasting excursions so popular in Europe and she envisions the day when she has her own retail outlet where she can provide customers with a “coffee cupping” experience— tasting a variety of coffee samples before choosing the one that perfectly suits their taste. “The basic concept is to get people excited about drinking good coffee and excited about fresh coffee and to be mindful about that experience,” she says. “In so many ways, Green River coffee will change your world.”